Utah Food Bank Receives $100,000 Grant From KeyBank To Support Culturally Responsive Food Initiative
Utah Food Bank will utilize grant to expand a program that distributes culturally appropriate foods to food pantries in Salt Lake County
SALT LAKE CITY, December 8, 2023 /3BL/ — KeyBank has awarded a $100,000 grant to Utah Food Bank to expand the organization’s Culturally Responsive Food Project. The project allows the organization to identify, track and distribute culturally familiar foods to communities in need throughout Salt Lake County communities, and eventually state-wide.
Since its founding in 1904 under the name of Salt Lake Charity Association, Utah Food Bank has remained committed to serving Utah citizens in need. The organization delivers food, free of charge, to 245 food pantry partners throughout the state.
The KeyBank grant will aid Utah Food Bank’s efforts in scaling the Culturally Responsive Food Project to food pantries throughout Salt Lake County, which includes purchasing additional food items and technology to manage inventories. The program expansion also includes conducting additional surveys to create a Utah-specific culturally relevant foods list.
“The work Utah Food Bank has planned for expanding its Culturally Responsive Food Program will enrich even more lives in our community by offering a path to nutritious and familiar meals for food insecure populations,” said Drew Yergensen, president of KeyBank’s Utah market. “We are proud to help expand this meaningful community program.”
“Utah Food Bank is grateful to KeyBank’s support, which will allow us to better respond to Utah’s changing demographics,” according to Ginette Bott, Utah Food Bank President & CEO. “While this is an important initiative statewide, piloting this program in Salt Lake County will allow us to refine the distribution of more culturally responsive foods so that as we expand our footprint in the upcoming year, we can implement similar models statewide.”
About Utah Food Bank
Founded in 1904, Utah Food Bank has operated under various names but remains true to its mission of Fighting Hunger Statewide by providing food to a statewide network of 245 emergency food pantries and agencies. Last fiscal year, Utah Food Bank distributed 60.2 million pounds of food and goods, the equivalent of approximately 50.1 million meals, to families and individuals in need across the state. For more information about Utah Food Bank, visit www.utahfoodbank.org or find them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter at @utahfoodbank.
About KeyCorp
KeyCorp's roots trace back nearly 200 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $188 billion at September 30, 2023. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,300 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC.
CONTACT:
Utah Food Bank | Heidi Cannella | 801-599-6700 | heidic@utahfoodbank.org
KeyBank | Jennifer Shermer | 303-902-9419 | jennifer@keetonpr.com
